Teaching a person the proper technique for swinging a bat can be a difficult task. It can require years of practice and training with an experienced batting coach to perfect the batter's swing. Proper swing technique encompasses proper hand placement and body movement, optimal bat acceleration, and ample power to hit the ball and is of the utmost importance in playing such sports as baseball or softball. Of course, proper swing technique ultimately includes making contact with the ball.
Bat trainers and warm-up devices of various kinds have been previously proposed and used. One category of devices helps batters learn to “break” or “bend” their wrists prior to contacting the ball. The theory is that breaking a batter's wrist ahead of the arms prior to contacting the ball will cause the ball to travel a greater distance when contact with the bat is made. Early bat trainers utilized weighted rings that fit around the hitting end of a standard bat. As the batter swings a bat equipped with the weighted ring, the weighted end helps the batter to break his or her wrist, theoretically improving ball distance. U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,816 builds on this concept by altering the location and size of the weights.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,111 discloses a practice bat that includes a weighted bat head connected to a flexing mid-section. At the beginning of the swing, momentum and the flexing section cause the weighted bat head to lag behind the grip handle. At the end of the swing, momentum and the flexing section cause the weighted end to move ahead of the grip handle. This teaches the batter the proper time to bend or break the hands and wrists during the swing.
Other devices, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,894, describe a practice bat for visibly recognizing where and when the ball contacts the bat. While the previously described trainers may help batters determine when to move their hands and/or wrists during a swing or to recognize the optimal place a bat should contact the ball, none of the bat trainers or warm-up devices described above teaches the batter proper swing technique.
Devices to help improve a batter's swing are available, but these devices typically help the batter to build shoulder and arm muscles used in swinging a bat and improve muscle coordination. Many of these trainers include weights mounted to the shaft of the bat. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,209 a batting trainer is disclosed that comprises a handle and a weighted shaft portion attached to a rod extending from the handle. The weighted shaft portion slides away from the grip handle as the batter accelerates the bat during the swing. This device trains the batter to better time acceleration of the bat during the swing by demonstrating the point at which the acceleration of the bat causes the weighted shaft to slide up the rod.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,121 discloses a baseball bat swing trainer comprising a baseball bat with a weight that can be mounted at any one of multiple locations on the bat shaft. Changing the position of the weight with respect to the grip handle changes the center of gravity of the bat and alters the effort required by the batter to swing the bat.
Another category of bat swing trainers is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,996, which shows a baseball bat with separate barrel and grip handle portions connected by a spring. The spring is positioned so that the batter's hands will grip the bat on opposite sides of the spring. This arrangement teaches the batter to appreciate and achieve a proper acceleration when the bat impacts the ball.
Swing trainers are also available for use in other sports. For example, a golf swing trainer sold under the name Kallassy Swing Magic™ utilizes a conventional golf club with a shaft, a stationary hand grip and a slideable grip to teach a person how to properly swing a golf club. To practice his golf swing, the user places one hand on the stationary grip and the other hand on the slideable grip, while assuming a conventional golf stance. This posture, with the hands close together and the club perpendicular to the mid-line of the body, constitutes the resting position. At the beginning of the swing, the user swings the club backwards while moving the slideable grip along the club shaft toward the club head and thereby extending his leading arm. When the user's arm is fully extended, the user begins to swing the club forward, past the starting position, while moving the slideable grip toward the stationary grip. As the user completes the follow through of the swing, the user's hands are close together, similar to the resting position. Repeated use of this golf swing trainer teaches a golfer proper swing technique. Because a golf club swing is different from a baseball bat swing, the Kallassy Swing Magic™ device does not offer any benefit when teaching a person proper baseball bat swinging technique.
The majority of the swing trainers described only help the batter to determine optimal bat acceleration or simply increase bat resistance by increasing the weight of the bat. A batter can increase muscle mass by increasing the weight of the bat he or she must swing, but still have poor swing technique. Further, obtaining optimal bat acceleration can be achieved even if the batter's swing technique is poor. Therefore, none of the training bats described above is capable of teaching a batter proper swing technique or the most accurate contact point for a bat to hit a ball.
A need still exists for a new swing training tool that teaches a baseball batter proper swing technique and form. The new trainer should be adaptable to individual batters and allow for differences in body frame, height and strength. The new trainer should teach proper swing technique is taught regardless of the unique characteristics and experience of each batter.
The new trainer should also teach a batter the location of his or her body in relation to the bat during a swing. The new trainer should teach a batter to swing the bat head outwardly and away from the body with the butt of the bat leading. Trainers that simply help a batter to break or bend his or her wrists ignore other parts of the body involved in the proper swing technique of a bat. Further, simply swinging weighted bats does not teach the batter the proper placement of the arms, hands, shoulders and torso throughout a swing of the bat. Outward swinging, while keeping the hands and forearms close to the body with both of the elbows bent, causes the batter to use more of his or her body when executing the swing, thereby achieving more bat speed and power. None of the available swing trainers enable the batter to practice and develop these skills.
The new trainer should demonstrate intuitively to the batter the proper form and position of the body while swinging a bat. When the batter swings the new trainer, he or she should readily feel where the optimal placement of the hands, arms and body is during and after the swing. Repeated use of the new swing trainer should promote muscle memory for proper swing technique, thus allowing the batter to draw on those memories to utilize proper technique when swinging an actual, non-training bat.
Desirably, the new swing trainer should also permit the user to check the results of his or her training. The new trainer should be a self-teaching training tool that a batter can use alone without the need for an experienced training coach.
Also, baseball enthusiasts would welcome a new trainer that permits the user to determine the most accurate contact point when hitting a ball with a bat. The new trainer should enable the user to audibly determine such contact point or “sweet spot” when the bat head strikes a ball. The distinct sound and feel of contact will train the user to hit with force, strength and accuracy when using a regulation bat and ball.